Homerocentones biblici

Abstract

Abstract This chapter traces the evolution of Homeric centos into Biblical centos and examines the ancient audiences’, as opposed to that of the early modern editors’, reception of secular and Christian centos-, the techniques of excerpting and reusing Homer in the Empire, and the apologetic motivation of the centonists within the context of classicizing Christian poetic production in Greek and Latin. This analysis unweaves the Homeric from the biblical threads in the I HC in order to show how they are used in the new Christian context and demonstrates the variety of secular and religious cento compositions that had existed in antiquity. It shows how the I HC is Homeric with respect not only to its compositional units but also to other Homeric features yet is still a late antique epic poem. The conclusions emphasize that the I HC is stitched with both Homeric and biblical threads in a dense composition whose craft offers insight into both the classicizing technique and the Christian message.